ACL compiles a daily media monitoring service of stories of interest to the Christian constituency relating to children, family, drugs and alcohol, marriage, human rights, religious freedom etc. Visit the ACL’s website each day to see what’s of interest in the news. Please note that selection of the articles does not represent ACL endorsement of the content.

Most people know that fetuses are human beings. To what other species would they belong? Still, the Canadian Medical Association just declared that babies aren’t human until after birth, and philosopher and bioethicist Peter Singer recently claimed that being human doesn’t give you the right to live. Each of these statements has helped to stir up both the abortion and personhood debates. However, new pregnancy trends could help bring humanity and rights back to the unborn.

Nellie Gray, a steadfast opponent of abortion in the United States who for almost 40 years led a yearly protest march in Washington that drew tens of thousands of supporters, and whose battle cry was ''No exception! No compromise!'', was found dead at her home in Washington. She was 88.

Dirty amphetamine-based drugs concocted in clandestine labs have become Adelaide's drug of choice, contributing to a rise in violent crimes, police and health experts say. Winning the war against ecstasy has fuelled the use of other amphetamines including speed and ice.

NSW schools should introduce a licence for students before they can use mobile phones and tablets at school, says the adolescent psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg. His intention is not to ban them, rather to facilitate greater use of technology by first teaching students what safe and responsible use is and then obtaining their agreement to abide by a set of rules and conditions.

The Greens are fighting fiercely to protect the Tarkine wilderness in Tassie's North-West. This significant tract of temperate rainforest has been upheld as a sacred place worthy of protection. People feel strongly about it. Over the past few years we've seen protests from community groups and heartfelt speeches from Greens pollies against changes mooted including the Tarkine tourist road and forestry and mining operations. Ironically, these are the very arguments that Tasmania's Labor-Green government is using to rip apart the sacred place that is marriage.

Seattle - This fall’s gay marriage measure, Referendum 74, is already attracting millions of dollars, but so far the campaigns have been relatively quiet, saving up for a TV ad-war that will surely be fierce starting after Labor Day. Despite the big money advantage, proponents of same sex marriage say they aren’t taking anything for granted given this history of these ballot measures in other states. “We have lost 32 out of 32 times, so we still consider ourselves the underdog,” said Zach Silk, Referendum 74 campaign manager. “We can’t get complacent. We know they have deep pockets and come in late.”

Doubt has been cast over the legality of the Sydney Anglican Diocese's changes to the marriage vow after an expert in church law said he did not believe the new wedding service complied with federal laws. The Herald reported on Saturday that some parishes were already using the new vow, requiring the minister to ask the bride: ''Will you honour and submit to him, as the church submits to Christ?'' and for her to pledge ''to love and submit'' to her husband.

Julia Gillard's strategy of exploiting the backlash against the conservative premiers to claw back disaffected Labor voters will be bolstered by the latest Newspoll surveys, which reveal voters are increasingly dissatisfied with Ted Baillieu in Victoria and Barry O'Farrell in NSW. Support for the Liberal leaders continues to fall amid unrest in their states over austerity measures and cost-of-living concerns as voters struggle with the two-speed economy.

All things considered, the dominance the Coalition still enjoys in NSW, 17 months after the biggest landslide in modern Australian history, is remarkable. The danger is that NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell, who is circumspect, and his minders, who are focused on skirting controversy, will take the wrong message from this Newspoll.

The banned drinker register will go, the search for 120 extra cops starts, public servants have nothing to fear, and a trip out bush is first on the agenda, Chief Minister-elect Terry Mills has said. The CLP leader held his first wide-ranging press conference yesterday, in the wash-up of a victory that has possibly reduced Labor to eight seats in a Parliament of 25. His first meeting of the day was with Police Commissioner John McRoberts, to discuss dismantling the Labor government's banned drinker register.

NSW Greens officials have embarked on a damage-control campaign after reporting of divisions in the party. The campaign comes as the party polled poorly in Saturday's by-election for former premier Kristina Keneally's inner southern Sydney seat of Heffron. The Australian last week detailed clashes during the recent NSW Greens conference and senate preselection between the hard-left Eastern Bloc faction and the more environmentally focused Deep Greens. The Eastern Bloc faction is associated with senator and former Moscow-line communist Lee Rhiannon.

Controversy continues to swirl around Pakistan's blasphemy law after the arrest of a young Christian girl for defiling words from the Quran. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has asked the country's Interior Ministry for a report about the Aug. 16 arrest of Rimshah Masih, described as an 11-year-old with Down syndrome in various media reports. Even so, Nina Shea, director of the Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom and a former member of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, suggested an ominous fate for the girl, in a National Review Online blog Aug. 21.

A jailed Iranian pastor, who may be executed for "apostasy", already faces death as authorities continue to deny him medical care despite earlier promises, a church official and close friend told BosNewsLife. Pastor Behnam Irani was was still suffering behind bars Sunday, August 26, said Firouz Khandjani, a council member of the pastor's 'Church of Iran', a growing evangelical house church movement.

Australia's immigration detention centres have been exposed as often lawless, violent, high-tension facilities. Rape and sexual assault claims, mass breakouts, home-made alcohol, weapons, hunger strikes and a high number of attempted suicides and self-mutilations feature in confidential security reports. Thousands of incidents are recorded in security documents released for the first time under Freedom of Information.

Young people need to realise it is their friends, rather than pedophiles, who are likely to be among the first links in the chain of sexual images going viral, a Victorian inquiry into sexting has heard. Michelle Hunt, from Women's Health Grampians, says education about sexting should challenge the gender stereotypes perpetuated in the online sphere.